University of California Institute of Transportation Studies

The main sources of truck data are truck surveys and truck counts collected by infrastructure-based detectors. Surveys provide detailed information (i.e., truck type, Origin-Destination, weight, and vehicle miles traveled) useful for understanding truck activity pattern by industry or associating freight commodities with specific truck types, but because of low response rates, surveys cannot be utilized to provide the actual quantification of truck activity at the geographical level. In-pavement sensor technologies, such as Weigh-in-Motion (WIM) or Automated Vehicle Classifiers (AVCs), provide point observations, such as truck volumes.These existing data sources are used to model and generate truck path flows (i.e., travel routes) and/or travel time estimations.